Kneel! (6)
“Beautiful weather…….”
Classroom of Class 1-10.
The school gathered arts and physical education track students into each grade’s Class 10 and ran them as a single homeroom. Just because it was a school for the children of the upper class did not mean every enrolled student excelled at academics. From the start, the arts-and-PE track had been created as a safety net for a certain type of student with no interest in studying—a legal loophole for those who could never crack SKY through the regular admissions route.
That did not mean every student focused on the arts-and-PE track was like that. Here and there you found genuine musical prodigies who had competed cleanly at international contests and walked away with prizes. Those ones were the real deal.
Right now, Class 1-10 of Cheonghwa High School happened to contain one such specially gifted student: one of Cheonghwa’s three great beauties, the girl who last year—while still in middle school—had taken the Highest Performer Award at the Pablo Casals Cello Competition.
Kang Ari sat by the window, gazing outside and savoring the spring morning. She had no worries about college. Her prize record alone was more than enough to open every Korean university and every famous conservatory abroad. Once she arrived at school she simply enjoyed the peace the campus offered. The moment she went home after dismissal, every day became a wrestling match with her cello.
Like every artist, a musician who lived by an instrument filled her life with hard hours. Memorizing scores the way ordinary students stacked knowledge was only the baseline. You had to pour every sense that could be stimulated into the instrument. Kang Ari loved this morning window of time more than any other part of the day. Her permanent seat by the window. The great ginkgo trees outside, the wide athletic field carpeted in grass. Cheonghwa High took landscaping seriously; from the outside the campus looked almost serenely peaceful. Rainy days were her favorite—the sound of raindrops bouncing off surfaces felt like musical notes being born.
“Holy crap! The second-year classrooms are going nuts right now.”
“Why? Did something catch fire?”
“What happened??”
The classroom erupted in noise all at once. Kang Ari’s face, still turned toward the window, twisted. Unlike regular academic classes, the arts-and-PE homeroom always ran hot with energy. Even a tiny piece of gossip made them explode with emotion.
“Someone got a perfect score on the midterms.”
“A perfect score? This midterm?”
“The grades aren’t even out yet.”
Even the arts track had to maintain a baseline of academic achievement no lower than any other school. Without outstanding practical ability you still could not get into the university you wanted, so plenty of them prepared for the CSAT as well. Their academic scores were, in fact, unusually high compared with arts-track students at ordinary schools.
“It came out of Class 2-3.”
“Class 2-3…… Senior Lee Hyoju?”
“Oh! Of course it’s Hyoju-sunbae!”
They were only first-years, yet they knew every famous name in the school cold. Those seniors would become future connections. Whenever an opportunity to speak with one of them appeared, everyone fought to join the conversation.
“It isn’t Hyoju-sunbae……. It’s a Sabaeja.”
“Whaaat? A Sa-Sabaeja?”
“Which Sabaeja??”
The word Sabaeja shattered Kang Ari’s calm. Her mind snapped into sharp focus. There were only two Sabaeja enrolled in the second year, and the one in Class 2-3 was……
“Do you guys know Ha Taewoong?”
“Ha Taewoong……?”
“The one Yeonju said was handsome.”
“Ah! That sun— I mean, that Sabaeja!”
At Cheonghwa it was an unspoken rule that you never called a Sabaeja “sunbae.” An iron law of the school.
“……!!”
Listening to the chatter, Kang Ari’s large eyes grew wider and wider. This was a genuine bombshell.
“He’s facing off against Su-Kang in the grand auditorium right now.”
“Facing off? Fighting? Or…… what?!”
“A math duel.”
“They’re solving problems?”
“What? Math problems against Su-Kang?”
“He’s lost it.”
“Hahaha. That Sabaeja’s heading for the Han River today.”
Not a single student even considered the possibility that Su-Kang might lose. Lee Jangyong was the top-tier math thug among every high-school math teacher in the country.
“Everyone shut your mouths!!”
A single icy command cut through the noise. Kang Ari—normally called the noble cello goddess—was glaring at her classmates with a freezing expression.
“A-Ari…….”
“…….”
Seeing the pure fury on her face, every student went rigid. Kang Ari’s family was no ordinary household either. According to the quiet rumors that circulated……
Tadadak.
The instant the words left her mouth Kang Ari bolted from the classroom.
“Ari!!”
An Aram, who had been face-down on her desk drowning in morning sleep, shot upright in shock and sprinted after her. An Aram’s number-one commandment on earth was always the same: protect Kang Ari!
“W-we should go too!”
“What on earth…….”
“Haa, all because of one Sabaeja…….”
Still reeling from Kang Ari’s sudden blow, the entire Class 1-10 poured after her toward the grand auditorium. Almost every student at Cheonghwa High below the third year streamed in the same direction. The teachers were no different. The second-year perfect scorer was a Sabaeja. On that point the faculty’s denial was no different from the students’.
The Sabaeja who had squared off against Su-Kang: Ha Taewoong. The peaceful Monday morning that had settled over Cheonghwa High was shattering into pieces.
An acquired villain?
The dark-grey aura Lee Jangyong was pouring out. Somewhere along the path of his life he had turned a corner and chosen evil. The energy was similar to the light that the innate villain, golfer Park Dojun, had once emitted. Both men’s auras were soaked through with poison and malice so thick it was impossible to rank one above the other.
Would you like to Plunder the acquired talent: Mathematical Thinking?
Grandmother’s buff that stripped power from villains without any conflict of choice. She clearly had some vast plan I still could not grasp. This was not the moment for doubt; it was the moment to absorb the ability and turn it into force.
Plunder!
Pajit.
The instant my will crystallized, a tiny spark leapt between our clasped hands.
“Ah!”
Startled, Lee Jangyong yanked his hand back. He would only think it was static electricity.
“First of all, thank you.”
“Wh-what did you say, you little shit?!”
I had already bowed my head briefly in gratitude. Irritated, Lee Jangyong scowled again.
“Teacher. A great many of my schoolmates are watching. It would be better if you refrained from language that violates the proud school rules of Cheonghwa.”
Cheonghwa’s school rules bound teachers as well as students. I publicly fed that fact to a man who could not possibly have forgotten it. Sensing the trap, his face flushed crimson.
“Shut up! You Sabaeja bastard!”
Certain of the outcome, he let his temper fully off the leash.
“What exactly are you doing right now?”
Korean-language teacher Han Yura’s voice rang out loudly. Nearly several hundred students had already crowded into the grand auditorium. A considerable number of teachers were visible as well. Regular classes were about to begin. In a situation like this, normally a senior teacher with years of service or a head of department would step in. The atmosphere, however, made everyone hesitate. Side with a Sabaeja student and you risked ugly consequences later. First-year teacher Han Yura stood in a completely different position. Unlike the others, she treated me as a genuine student. When every other club on campus had pretended not to see me, she alone had taken me in.
“Stay out of this, Teacher Han. I am currently disciplining a student for cheating on the exam.”
True to form, Lee Jangyong answered with a sneer.
“Do you have any evidence that Taewoong committed the cheating you claim?”
“Evidence? Of course. The very fact that he solved every one of my problems is the evidence!”
“Stop making excuses! Taewoong is a diligent student!”
“Diligent? Puhahahahahahahaha.”
At Han Yura’s words Lee Jangyong threw back his head and laughed so hard the auditorium shook. Teacher Han bit her lip hard. A bright sky-blue aura rippled gently around her. Even in an educational hellhole like Cheonghwa, an angel like this still existed.
“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? That brat challenged me to a math duel. He said he would prove himself by competing, so just watch. I’m even giving him a chance. Is there a problem?”
Certain of victory, Lee Jangyong orated with shameless confidence.
“Taewoong…….”
Teacher Han’s eyes, fixed on me, were full of pity and worry.
What a beautiful moment.
I had lived through far uglier atmospheres in my previous life. At least now there were people who worried about me. That alone made returning more than worthwhile. I had already lived once. I didn’t need that many friends!
“Stop the nonsense and let’s finish this. I have class.”
“Very well. The audience seems full enough.”
I casually swept my gaze across the Cheonghwa students packed into the auditorium. Papapapat. Unfriendly stares stabbed into me from every direction like daggers. Even those cold looks could not cow me—my wallet was thick enough. Only now did I feel I had truly reclaimed my name: Taewoong!
I turned my head slowly, scanning every side. And there he was—the one radiating the strongest hostility of all. He was glaring at me with eyes that wanted me dead. Murderous eyes that absolutely refused to accept this situation. Cheonghwa’s famous fixture, someone I had only ever been able to watch from a distance in my previous life. Until the day I graduated I had never exchanged a single word with him.
Seuk.
Seeing him again like this brought a strange rush of feeling. One corner of my mouth lifted in a smile. And then……
“Hey, friend over there! Want to try setting a problem yourself?”
“……!!”